School officials seeking
support for referendum
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer
Administrators in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District are asking for residents’ support for a major construction project.
Voters will go to the polls on Sept. 30 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. to cast their ballots on a plan put forth by the Board of Education to accommodate a continuing increase in enrollment.
The total cost of the project will be $48,826,316. Residents of Manalapan and Englishtown are being asked to pay $34.5 million, while the state pays $14.32 million of the construction costs.
"On Sept. 30, residents of Manalapan and Englishtown will have the opportunity to make a difference in K-8 education," said Superintendent of Schools Maureen Lally. "At this moment, MEMS, our middle school, and three primary schools, Clark Mills, Milford Brook, and Taylor Mills, are overcrowded according to the state guidelines."
Lally said that in the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School some classes have as many as 35 pupils.
"Students have classes in the auditorium, faculty rooms, the media center and the lunchroom," the superintendent said. "Nine teachers have no classrooms, traveling on a cart. Three of the five lunch periods have over 300 students; all 300 have to be fed in 30 minutes."
The superintendent said that in two of the district’s primary schools, pupils attend classes in offices and conference rooms.
"All this can be remedied for approximately $12.50 a month in Manalapan and $9.15 a month in Englishtown, based on average assessments," Lally said. "That is less than 50 cents a day."
Lally said state officials have recognized the careful planning and no nonsense approach that characterizes this referendum.
"As a result, the state awarded the K-8 school district a grant equal to 29.35 percent of the total project," the superintendent said. "This is an unusually high amount for a suburban district."
While the proposed construction project is expected to deal with the present overcrowding situation, the board and district administrators have also projected for the next 10 years, Lally said. The addition to MEMS and the early childhood learning center wing on Clark Mills will solve the overcrowding of today and accommodate the pupils anticipated during the next 10 years, she said.
In asking residents to support the referendum, school board President James Mumolie said, "We have reviewed and addressed the issues of growth, (and) the needs of our children. We have determined that certain projects are needed to be addressed immediately."
The referendum will not come without a cost to residents of Manalapan and Englishtown.
The projected tax impact for residents of Manalapan for the first four years after the construction plan is approved will be $149 per year, based on a home with an assessed value of $250,000. From year five through year 25, the cost will increase to $256 per year.
The projected tax impact for residents of Englishtown for the first four years will be $109 per year, based on a home with an assessed value of $180,000. From year five through year 25, the cost will increase to $187 per year.
According to figures provided by the board, the work at MEMS will cost $28.7 million (state share, $7.9 million; local share, $20.8 million). After construction is completed, it is expected there will be 22 new classrooms which will reduce class size to 24. There will also be extensions to the physical education facilities, expansion of the cafeteria and air conditioning.
The work at Clark Mills School will cost $13.4 million (state share, $3.7 million; local share, $9.7 million). An early childhood wing for all pre-school handicapped children and all of the district’s kindergarten pupils will be constructed. Moving all of the kindergarten pupils to Clark Mills will open classroom space in the other K-3 schools, according to district administrators.
The remaining $6.7 million in construction funds will be spent on improvements to the Taylor Mills, Milford Brook, Pine Brook and Lafayette Mills schools.
Mumolie said the timing of these projects coincide favorably with certain aspects in the building and financial industries, namely, bonding and interest rates are now the best they have been in the past 30 years.
"We will maximize the amount of projects that we can do for the least amount of money," the board president said.
District administrators said the completion of these projects will provide for the anticipated 722 new students who are expected to be in the school district by 2007, based on new housing construction in Manalapan and Englishtown.
"Manalapan-Englishtown is an outstanding school district, winning awards on the state, regional and national levels. Our students deserve facilities to support the excellent education that takes place in each building. I ask all residents to review the plans on display in each school and vote on Sept. 30," Lally said.